manage diet college

How To Manage Diet & Stay Fit In College Hostel & PG?

College life is full of activity – both physical & mental – meaning, It’s time to learn, explore, make new friends, festivals, assignments, deadlines, events, hangouts, and whatnot. And, that’s how it should be. Isn’t it?

But during all this, health often takes a backseat most of the time, especially for kids staying in hostel/PG.

However, what most of you don’t realize is that these increasing demands – both physical & mental – will only be met if you use the right fuel aka “nutrition” & do proper maintenance aka “Physical activity” of your vehicle aka “your body” for a sustained period of time.

And things get even more challenging for kids staying in hostel/PG to get proper nutrition. So, let’s give you the strategies and tools needed to easily manage your nutrition while staying in a college hostel.

Nutrition approach & strategy

Out of three macronutrients – protein, carbs & fat – protein is difficult to get and over 80% of Indians lack this macronutrient according to a 2017 survey (1). And protein deficiency has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes (2).

Long story short, protein is what you need to be concerned about. Carb & fat sources are available in plenty, Even if you’re not conscious about them, you’ll consume them in good quantities anyway.

And don’t think, protein is only needed by people engaged in sports and muscle-building activities. It is needed by everyone, though the quantities might change.

source

And it’s not that you consumed the recommended amount on a single day and you’re done. You’ve to consume it through your diet regularly. So prioritize protein over everything.

Protein sources for non-vegetarians – chicken, fish, eggs, meat etc.

Protein sources for vegetarians – Dairy (milk, paneer, dahi/curd, chaach), soy (chunks, granules, dal, tofu), legumes (dal, rajma, chole etc), nuts & seeds etc.

Refer to this article for cheapest protein sources.

Strategy for hostel mess

First, look for protein sources mentioned above and add them to your plate. Then add any of the carbohydrate sources such as – parantha, roti, sabzi, uttapam, cheela, idli, dosa, rice, bread, poori, pasta, macroni, pasta etc. Don’t fill your plate entirely with these.

Most of these sources also have fiber attached, another crucial non-caloric macronutrient.

Add some salad for additional fiber & micronutrients.

If there’s too much oil in curry, remove the oil as much as you can. We don’t want unnecessary calories coming in. Follow the same approach for non-curry items as well.

It’s not the we don’t want fat in our diet however, we don’t want extra fat which adds nothing but free calories.

How to complete protein if hostel mess has fewer protein options?

Purchase eggs and boil in your hostel/pg room in a kettle or purchase a cheap egg boiler from Amazon. It will cost around ₹350.

Secondly, you can purchase milk, paneer, curd etc. from the market and have it. If not, purchase any unsweetened milk powder from Amazon. It will give about 35g of protein per 100g.

Target around 15g protein per meal and 15g protein for different foods will look something like this.

For people engaged in sports activities or have some fitness goals such as muscle building or fat loss, their protein requirement is above normal requirement, about 1.2-2 g protein per kg of body weight. So if your body weight is 60 kilos, you need 72-120g protein/day.

Aim for 20-25g protein at each meal which will look something like this.

Foods you can stock in your hostel/pg room (perishable & non-perishable)

These will ensure that even if you’re late for class, you can quickly have your meal & get going.

Secondly, it will save you a lot of money.

bollywood body transformation

The Truth About Most Viral Bollywood Body Transformations

Bollywood transformations are more hype & buzz than science & mathematics.

Use of both is good enough to understand any bollywood transformation including the two which garnered maximum virality in Bollywood History – Aamir’s Dangal & Hrithik’s War transformation.

But the idea of this article is to help you understand the science behind these transformations & how you can apply the same science to create your own transformation rather than searching for aamir khan diet & workout plan all across the internet assuming that by following the same you will get a body like Aamir Khan.

So let’s get to the basics of fat-to-fit transformations first before decoding both stories.

Basics of Fat to fit transformations

Our body weight consists of fat mass & fat-free mass or lean mass. Fat mass is the weight of fat & lean mass includes muscles, bones, organs, water etc.

Body weight = Fat Mass + Fat-Free Mass (Muscles + Bones + Organs + Tendons + Water)

And a fat-to-fit transformation means two things –

1. Losing body fat or fat mass
2. Retaining muscle mass (lean mass)

Meaning, in any such transformation video you see, the person has lost body fat & retained as much muscle as possible. It doesn’t mean the person has built all that muscle right from scratch in the transformation period. He/she just lost fat & saved his muscle. Because building new muscle takes years of work.

Achieving such fat-to-fit transformation is very much possible with proper training, calorie deficit nutrition, optimal protein, hydration & rest.

Let’s understand this in a little more detail with Aamir’s Dangal Transformation.

1. Aamir’s Dangal Transformation

source – utv motion pictures

Aamir went from 97 kg body weight & 38% body fat to 68 kg weight & 10% body fat in 5 months or 22 weeks.

So starting body fat was 38% of 97 i.e. 37 kg. Meaning out of 97 kg total weight, 37 kg was fat weight.

If we subtract the two, we will get lean mass.

Body Weight – Fat Weight = Total Lean Mass = 97-37 = 60 kg

Aamir’s starting lean mass was 60 kg.

Fast forward 5 months, the new weight is 68 kg with 10% body fat, meaning 7 kg fat mass.

How much of the lean mass is left now, 68-7=61 kg.

So if you see, the before & after lean mass stayed almost the same in Aamir. So what changed?

Fat Mass. From 37 kg to 7 Kg.

In a nutshell, Aamir lost 30 kg of body fat in this transformation and retained his muscle.

Meaning, Aamir did not build this muscle in 6 months. That took over 15 years. If I remember, Ghajini was his first movie, we saw Aamir pack a lot of muscle.

That said, the fat loss was very drastic considering the timeline. One should not attempt such extreme fat loss in real life. Any fat loss journey should be gradual.

How can you do your transformation? Let me get to that in a while after discussing Hrithik’s transformation.

2. Hrithik’s War Transformation

source – HRX brand

Other than the transformation time period, no other details such as body weight, and body fat % were available on the internet about Hrithik’s transformation.

However, what can be deduced just by looking at the images/videos is that Hrithik went from around 25-30% body fat to 10% body fat in 6 months.

Again, like Aamir, Hrithik also lost body fat & retained his muscle. In fact, Hrithik gained all this muscle in 22+ years.

How to transform your body using this knowledge?

Calculate your body fat percentage using this US army body fat calculator. Read measuring instructions carefully before you input the numbers in the calculator.

10-20% body fat in men and 20-30% in women is considered a healthy range. Find what percentage you want to get to. Here’s a chart for your reference.

image source

Now, find your maintenance calories using this calculator. Remember this is just an estimate. After a week of experimentation, you’ll know what works for you.

After calculating this, start consuming 200-300 calories less than maintenance. Since you will be eating less consume enough fiber-rich foods in each meal. This will keep you full. Also, keep protein intake between 1.5g-2g per kg of body weight. Other than satiety protein will help retain muscle. Keep yourself hydrated.

For weight training, if you’re a beginner, you have an opportunity to build muscle & lose fat at the same time. Just train at least 3-4 times per week.

If you’re an intermediate or advanced lifter, train 5-6 times in week hitting each muscle group at least twice.

Be consistent and you’ll start to see progress. Remember to measure your weight daily & body fat levels once per week to stay on track.

Measure various circumferences using above mentioned instructions

Conclusion

Proper training, calorie deficit nutrition, optimal protein, hydration, and rest – That’s all it takes to get a transformation like this. No magic bullet here. Consistency will bring results. Nothing else will.

Hope it helps.

References used –

Hrithik’s transformation video – YouTube (HRX Brand)
Aamir’s Transformation video – YouTube (UTV Motion Pictures)
Arner P. Fat Tissue Growth and Development in Humans. Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser. 2018;89:37-45. doi: 10.1159/000486491. Epub 2018 Jul 10. PMID: 29991030.

indian sweets/mithai best

How To Choose The Best Mithai/Sweets For You?

No doubt India is quite innovative as far as the art of sweet (mithai) making is concerned however, this art has made a lot of people vulnerable to obesity & many other lifestyle diseases.

Therefore, it is important to find mithais that are good for us and do not take a toll on our health.

But for that, we need to first get the basics right.

Mithai Basics

So irrespective of which mithai it is, essentially a piece of mithai is made up of about 50% sugar & the remaining 50% contains other ingredients such as flour, dairy, nuts/seeds, water, fats, flavors, etc.

That’s the reason it’s called a mithai. (because it has meetha i.e. sugar).

And as you all know, sugar is a source of empty calories i.e. meaning it only contributes to your calories for the day without contributing any essential nutrients your body needs for optimal function.

And this sugar makes a mithai highly palatable (tasty) and therefore, you end up eating more & more.

And, that’s the biggest problem one faces with mithai. They don’t know when to stop which significantly shoots up calories for the day.

Therefore, a better approach to finding the best mithai is to moderate the consumption of any mithai, and more so with sweets that you love. And below are the four strategies to do just that –

1. Mithais that are divided into pieces

Pick a mithai that’s divided into small portions such as barfi, kaju katli, peda, rasgulla, petha, sandesh, rasmalai, besan ka laddoo, kalakand, modak, jalebi, etc.

So if you’re someone, who doesn’t know when to stop while eating a mithai, then this strategy is definitely for you. Just pick a single piece of any of these mithais and you’re done. Portion control is what we’re looking at here.

The above-mentioned options will give anywhere between 70-150 calories with rasgulla being the lowest & soan papdi being the highest.

2. Moisture-based sweets

The next strategy is to look for water or moisture-based mithais. Let us explain that in a little more detail.

Any mithai made either from water or water based foods will obviously have more water content than the sweets which don’t use water.

The idea of doing this is to minimize the consumption of calories since water doesn’t have any calories, so you can still eat more in terms of volume and the mithai will contribute lesser calories.

Some examples are Pongal which is made from rice, moong dal & water, Gajar ka halwa which is made from carrot & milk which are almost 90% water, rasgulla from milk, shrikhand from curd which again is almost 88% water, rava kesari made from suji & water. Some more examples are – kheer, rasmalai, kalakand.

These sweets are almost 50% water and remaining 50-60% is made from other ingredients.

A 100g serve of these mithais will give 160-220 calories where Pongal is the lowest & rava kesari or suji ka halwa being the highest.

Both these strategies will make things easier for you. If you’ve questions so far, leave in comments.

3. Nutrient-rich sweets

See most Indian sweets are made up of good ingredients. In fact, from the 18 popular Indian sweets that we covered for this article (more details about sweets) 40% were milk-based which is a good source of protein, fat & calcium. You can pick any of them.

Rest were made from other good ingredients such as – Gajar ka halwa from carrots & milk – a source of protein, fat & vitamin a, besan ka laddoo from besan (gram flour) giving fiber, protein & micronutrients, cashew-based kaju barfi giving good fat, protein & micronutrients, pongal made from rice & moong, kheer made from rice & milk, modak made from coconut & rice flour and so on.

Exercise portion control even while consuming them as explained above.

If you want to reduce your calorie consumption from sweets even further, you can check Healthy Mithai Co. sweets which are sweetened with stevia which adds sweetness without adding calories.

4. Minimize or avoid the consumption of deep-fried mithais

Lastly, we have deep-fried mithais – that include jalebi, ghevar & gulab jamun. If you can limit your consumption to small pieces, eat them, else avoid them because they offer negligible nutrition, are very tasty & a source of empty calories.

Conclusion

Mithais are almost 50% sugar and 50% other ingredients. And sugar is what makes them highly palatable. So rather than finding the best mithai that you can eat in unlimited amounts, eat any mithai in limited amounts and make in healthy for you.

Because the best mithai is the one, where you stop eating on time.

And in a country like India, where meetha is deeply ingrained across cultures, instead of blaming meetha for your ill health, a better approach is always to make better habits.

And as long as, regular physical activity, control on choices & eating in moderation is part of your lifestyle, a piece of mithai here & there can do nothing.

Research conducted by Chandni

avocado cheaper substitute

5 Cheaper Alternatives To Expensive Foods

First, understand why some foods are more expensive than others.

Some foods are expensive primarily because of health benefits or claims associated with them.

For example – lowering cholesterol, managing diabetes, maintaining blood pressure, improving heart health, weight loss, and so on.

However, these benefits or claims do not occur in isolation. But exist primarily because of a good nutrient profile i.e. good amount of essential nutrients found in such foods.

Couple this with a superfood tag in front of their name, and the cost, sales, & margins all skyrocket. And sometimes, even this isn’t required, just a foreign tag is good enough to command higher prices.

But an important takeaway for you so far is that these foods are expensive largely because of the good nutrients found in them. And those nutrients can also be found is cheaper foods as well.

For example, fiber is a macronutrient that is proven to help with weight loss if consumed in certain quantities (1). So, any food with a good amount of fiber may promote itself as a weight loss food.

Using the above example, a ₹500 rupee food may carry the same amount of fiber as a ₹100 rupee food. So why buy ₹500 rupee food? Go for ₹100 rupee food.

On these lines, we found some cheaper alternatives for you. You can find the rest.

1. Kiwi

A kilo comes at around ₹380. Some benefits linked with kiwi are digestive health, immunity, & reducing high blood pressure.

First off, potassium has a role to plan in lowering blood pressure, however, kiwi is not a significant source of potassium (7% RDA for 100g).

Secondly, fiber & vitamin c are linked with immunity & digestive health, and every 100g Kiwi gives 3g and 93mg of both respectively.

Now, the amount of fiber & potassium you will get from Kiwi in ₹38, a banana will give almost the same amount at just ₹6.

And as for vitamin c, though 100g kiwi helps you meet your entire vitamin c requirement for the day, however, even there you don’t have to spend ₹38, Guava will offer twice the amount of vitamin c (228mg) found in kiwi at 1/4th the price (₹8 per 100g – Guava).

2. Avocado

The price is ₹1200/kg or ₹120/100g.

Benefits include lowering cholesterol, heart health, and improving digestion.

The reason for these benefits are good or healthy fats (mono & polyunsaturated fat) & dietary fiber.

A 100g serve or a single avocado gives about 10g mono, 2g polyunsaturated fat and 7g fiber.

In comparison, just 41g peanuts will give 10g mono, 6g poly fat, and 4g fiber. In addition, you get 10g protein absolutely free.

To put this in perspective, what avocado offers in ₹120, peanut will offer a similar nutrient profile in just ₹7. So in a nutshell, avocado is about 1614% more expensive than peanuts.

3. Quinoa

It comes at around ₹360/kg. Claimed benefits include lower cholesterol, managing blood pressure, blood sugar, reducing inflammation etc.

Protein, fiber & micronutrients collectively play a role.

Amaranth or Rajgira seeds offer a very similar nutrient profile as quinoa at just ₹120/kg.

Some nutritional comparisons for you.

Both are almost similar in their protein & fiber content – 14g & 7g respectively.

Quinoa is ahead of amaranth in vitamins – b1, b2, b9, and amaranth leads in b5 & b6.

In mineral content – Quinoa leads in copper but amaranth leads in calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, manganese, selenium, and both have a similar zinc content.

So overall, both are equally good from a nutritional standpoint but quinoa exceeds by 200% in price.

4. Olive Oil

Now, olive oil comes in various varieties however, its best variety extra virgin & virgin starts with ₹800 price tag, and its benefits include heart health & reducing inflammation in body.

Heart health is primarily because of the of availability of unsaturated aka good fat in large amounts (84%) where the concentration of monounsaturated fat is 73% and polyunsaturated fat is 11%.

Anti-inflammatory properties in olive oil are because of the presence of Vitamin e. Further, a tablespoon (14g) of olive oil will complete 10% of your vitamin e & k requirements for the day.

But you can find similar qualities in Rs 350/liter peanut or groundnut oil which also has a fair concentration of good fats (78%) – monounsaturated fat (46%) & polyunsaturated fat (32%).

Vitamin E content is also similar to olive oil and in terms of price, olive is more than double the price of peanut oil.

Even mustard oil has 59% mono & 21% polyunsaturated fat concentration and its price is just ₹175/liter.

5. Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are nutrient dense with each 30g serve giving 9g protein, an excellent source of these 5 minerals (iron – 19%, magnesium – 47%, manganese – 65%, phosphorous – 51%, zinc – 24%) and a good source of vitamin b3 (10%).

However, flax seed is a good alternative which is an excellent source of dietary fiber (8g), these 3 nutrients (b1 – 43%, magnesium – 33%, phosphorous – 28%), and a good source of protein & these three nutrients (b6 – 11%, iron – 13%, zinc – 14%)

As you can see both are equally good in their nutrient composition however, pumpkin seeds (₹1000/kg) are 400% more expensive than flax seeds (₹200/kg).

Conclusion

  1. Expensive foods are not magical in itself. The benefits they offer are because of their nutrient composition.
  2. The reason they’re expensive is their nutrient density, marketing, or foreign tag.
  3. If you don’t follow the herd, nutrients found in them can also be found in much cheaper foods as demonstrated in the article.
  4. If you have the budget, definitely purchase & consume these expensive foods as well but don’t consider them as a magical doorway to health and bring down this notion that only by eating these foods can you stay healthy.

And finally, to conclude if you’re overall lifestyle is good, you can do without these foods as well but if your lifestyle isn’t right, then you know where you’re heading.

Research conducted by Chandni

References –

Slavin JL. Dietary fiber and body weight. Nutrition. 2005 Mar;21(3):411-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2004.08.018. PMID: 15797686.

Daily Values of nutrients –

https://www.fda.gov/media/99059/
https://www.fda.gov/media/99069/
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/